1 from left:
Catherine Espinal,
Greg Haney,
Molly Buckwalter
On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, the Modern Language Studies
Department (MLS) bestowed awards on three of its graduating seniors.
Catherine Espinal, BSEd
Spanish, received the award for outstanding student in Spanish.
Greg Haney, BSEd German and Special Education, received the award for outstanding student in German.
Molly Buckwalter, BA
German Communication and
Culture, received the Linda
Oswald Bogert Memorial Award, which recognizes exemplary
MLS students.

The Modern Language Studies Department
(MLS) is proud to announce a new scholarship, the “Howard and Leah Landis
Memorial Scholarship!”
This scholarship is for students pursuing the
Spanish for Modern Business Minor. The application for this “free money” is relatively easy:
• applicants must fill out the application form;
• write a brief essay addressing why they are studying this minor and how the content therein will be used in their future career;
• demonstrate successful academic performance;
Spanish for Modern
Business Minor
An opportunity to blend business, language and culture. Cultivate the language skills necessary to communicate in business and professional settings in our everincreasing global environment.
This program is offered by the
Modern Language Studies
Department.
*Learn practical skills for the workplace: business culture and etiquette, business ethics and writing, translation
*Designed for students at all levels - from beginners to native speakers
• provide one reference letter from a faculty member.
Image: www.gocollege.com
As with all KU scholarships, the applicants must also have a current FAFSA on file in the
Financial Aid Office. Applications are available on the MLS “Scholarship Bulletin
Board” opposite DF 104.
The new Spanish for Modern Business Minor is unique in comparison to other similarlytitled minors at other local institutions because in KU’s S4MB Minor, every single course blends the study of the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures with business vocabulary and contexts. Having a scholarship specific to this minor makes it even more exciting!
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On December 5, 2015, Kutztown University’s Sigma Omicron Chapter of the National German Honor Society
Delta Phi Alpha inducted one honorary faculty member and six new student members. Dr. Hawkinson was on hand to offer wonderfully crafted remarks about the value of perseverance and accomplishment. Delta Phi Alpha seeks to recognize excellence in the study of German and provide an incentive for higher scholarship.
Photo from left to right : Dr. Kim Shively, Shannon McCarthy, Josh Steinberg,
President Hawkinson, Mason Smith, Cassandra Guerrero, Laura Berkel; not pictured : Kambria Carlson.

500 YEARS OF HISTORY
Explore an untold chapter of the American story.
October 22, 2015 – 11 am deFrancesco #210, Kutztown University
“Foreigners in their Own Land”
Screening of Documentary and
Panel Discussion
Dr. Louis Rodríquez, Kutztown University
October 29, 2015 – 11 am deFrancesco #210, Kutztown University
Panel Discussion
Carol Anne Donohue, President,
Jacquelyn M. Kline, Esq., Partner,
Cambria and Kline PC
Bridget Cambria, Esq., Partner,
Cambria and Kline PC
November 9, 2015 – 5 pm
McGlinn Conference Center, Reading, PA
Panel Discussion dso@kutztown.edu
3 www.pbs.org/latino-americans/en/
Latino Americans: 500 Years of History, created by the National Endowment for the
Humanities and the American Library Association, is part of an NEH initiative, The
Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square.
Above : Dr. Louis Rodríquez, Kutztown University History Professor,
Latino Americans: 500 Years of History builds on the PBS documentary fi lm series produced by WETA Washington, D.C.; Bosch and Co., Inc.; and Latino Public
Broadcasting (LPB); in association with Independent Television Service (ITVS).
at the event “Foreigners in their Own Land,” held October 22, 2015.
Kutztown University was awarded a grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American
Library Association (ALA) to host the series Latino Americans:
500 Years of History (LA500) during the 2015-2016 academic year, under the directorship of Dr. Christine Núñez, Modern
Language Studies Department and Mr. Bruce Jensen,
Rohrbach Library. The fall series of events was in three parts, including a screening and discussion of episode 1 of “The
Latino Americans: Foreigners in their Own Land,” and two panel discussions on immigration: one at Kutztown University, and one at Alvernia University in collaboration with the Berks
County Community Foundation. The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages, the Organization for
Latino Awareness (OLA), and the Multicultural Center.
In the first event on October 22nd we were joined by high school students from Phoenixville Area High School. They, along with other Kutztown University students, watched
“Foreigners in their Own Land,” followed by a discussion led by Dr. Louis Rodríquez from the History Department. The focus of the episode was to shine light on the fact that Latinos lived in what was later to become the United States before any
English speakers arrived. The first European settlement in
America was in fact a Spanish settlement at St. Augustine in
Florida.
On Thursday, October 29th, 37 high school juniors from
Roberto Clemente Charter School came to Kutztown to listen to three guest speakers discuss the current state of Latino immigration to the United States.
The guest speakers were
Carol Anne Donohue, President of the Greater Reading
Immigration Project; Jacqueline M. Kline, Esq.; and Bridget
Cambria, Esq., partners of the law firm Cambria and Kline
PC.
They shared with an audience of over 100 students, faculty, and staff about the legal side of immigration from a lawyer’s perspective. They shared many interesting facts about immigration which were previously unknown to many people of the audience including the presence of the Berks County
Residential Center which detains immigrants and their families during their application process, and is only one of three such facilities in the country. In all, the panel discussion was eyeopening to all of those in the audience.
In addition to the educational part of both events, student volunteers were able to spend time with the high school students after the discussions and talk over lunch and a campus tour. It was a great experience to hear the thoughts and opinions of high schoolers whose families for the most part are comprised of immigrants. Indeed, all had something to say on the topic.
LA500 events for the spring semester include a screening and discussion of episode 6, “Peril and Promise,” a dance performance by the Hispanic American League of Artists, and an interactive session entitled “Understanding and
Appreciating Cultural Diversity,” led by Restorative Justice
Practitioner Charito Calvachi-Mateyko.
KU events, as well as those being hosted by neighboring grant recipients, are posted on the website: http://library.kutztown.edu/latino, where visitors can also link to all 6 episodes of The Latino Americans documentary series.

Julia Ludewig is a PhD candidate and adjunct instructor in the department of German and Russian
Studies at Binghamton
University (SUNY).
On September 28, 2015 Julia Ludewig delivered a lecture to the campus community on the German graphic novel Drüben, literally “over there,” which has also been translated into English as The Other
Side of the Wall .
Through a child’s eyes, the graphic novel tells the story of the personal implications of political circumstances, such as families separated by a divided Germany.
The lecture attracted roughly 60 attendees from a variety of disciplines across campus, including
English, History, and Visual Arts.
Kevin McCloskey, professor in the
Communication Design department, brought his entire Illustration class to hear Ludewig’s lecture.
McCloskey commented: “My illustration students
“[My illustration students] found it fascinating to see how the medium of sequential art can describe recent history, in this case, the history of the
Berlin Wall.” Kevin McCloskey, professor, Communication Design appreciated Professor Ludewig’s presentation. They found it fascinating to see how the medium of sequential art can describe recent history, in this case, the history of the Berlin Wall. Students noticed that Schwartz drew from low angles, giving us a childlike perspective of the tense border crossings.”
The event was sponsored by the Modern
Language Studies Department and the German
Students’ Organization.
Four German Studies Students participated in the 6th Annual Peace Conference held at Northampton Community College (NCC),
Bethlehem, PA, on Oct. 15, 2015. This year's conference focused specifically on immigration and the worldwide refugee crisis.
Under the guidance of Dr. Lynn M. Kutch (Modern Language Studies), the KU students developed research topics on immigration trends in the United States and Germany, and participated in the conference's poster session. Besides providing the KU German
Senior Seminar students an opportunity to present their work, an additional goal was to connect Kutztown students with students from Northampton Community College who are part of NCC’s newly created Global Studies major.
From left: Dr. Christine Pense, dean, Humanities and Social Sciences, NCC, Dr. Lynn M. Kutch, associate professor of German, Kutztown MLS
From left: Molly Buckwalter, BA, German Culture and Communication, Mason
Smith, BSEd, German and Mathematics, Hamza Siala, International Student from Hildesheim, Germany, and Cassandra Guerrero, BA German Culture and
Communication/BS Computer Science.
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On November 12, 2015,
Dr. Zimmerman’s
Spanish Senior Seminar class, along with children’s bilingual book author KU BSEd student
Irving Guzman, hosted a group of 22 first graders from Roberto Clemente
Charter Elementary
School (RCCES) and three of their teachers for lunch and literacy.
The children were given a copy of Irving’s book
(translated by Matt Bello) that they were able to decorate and take home with them. This event was in part sponsored by
Dr. Núñez’s
Sesquicentennial grant that focuses on community engagement.
One of the highlights of the day were the stories that the children created using fall-themed decorated cookies.
Pictured at right with children and RCCES staff member are future
Spanish teachers, Irving
Guzman and Kelly
Esslinger.
Since his graduation from Kutztown
University in 2013, Chris LaRose has been keeping busy, and has been using his German, too!
Chris said in a recent interview:
“I had been working at a Harley
Davidson dealership for a year, which surprisingly I was able to use my German on several occasions.
Though I am not much a fan of
Harley culture there were a bunch of
Germans who made the shop a priority stop on their visit to
America, I guess since the American biker culture was born from WWII victory culture there is no German parallel and is really intriguing. I specialized in parts and accessories but one day I heard a family speaking German and looking at one of the motorcycles so I went over and started talking to them, the one fellow was so pleased that an
American spoke his language that he ended up buying the bike! I've moved on from that job and am now working on trying to further my music career and substitute teaching in between gigs. Doug Madenford and I will actually be going to
Germany next October to perform
PA Dutch songs for a language convention. I'll need to start practicing my German again, I try to read and use it when I can but maintaining a language after college sure is a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. I'm sure it's still in there, just have to dust it off.”
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On November 21, 2015, Dr. Lynn M. Kutch, associate professor of
German, Department of Modern Language Studies, received the
Best Article Award for "From Visual Literacy to Literary
Proficiency: An Instructional and Assessment Model for the
Graphic Novel Version of Kafka’s Die Verwandlung " at an awards ceremony in San Diego, CA. The award was presented by the
American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) as part of the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages (ACTFL).
The article, made possible in part by a KU research grant and a KU assessment grant, appeared in the nation's leading journal on
German pedagogy, Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German , a peer-reviewed publication produced by the AATG and published by Wiley.
at left : Carlee Arnett, editor of Die Unterrichtspraxis , Dr. Kutch
Type to enter text
At right : students enjoy the
Oktoberfest themed dinner.
At far right: l-r:
Lennart
Gästerstadt, international student from
Hildesheim,
Harold Baguinon, graduate assistant in the international office, and
Caroline
Ludaescher, international student from
Hildesheim.
On October 7, 2015, The International Office and MLS hosted a celebration for the new Hildesheim exchange program.
The event brought together KU students who returned this year from Hildesheim, KU students who are planning to study in Hildesheim, and international students from Hildesheim. This is the first semester that the German students are studying at Kutztown
University, making the program a true exchange.
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A group of Kutztown University students attended the
PSMLA Fall 2015 Conference “Forging A Future: A Language
(R)evolution,” on October 16 and 17 in King of Prussia.
Conference attendees, who were primarily modern language teachers, were very impressed by Kutztown University's teacher candidates. Kutztown University had more attendees than any other university at the conference. The students’ attendance was made possible by Undergraduate Research
Grants, KU Foundation support and funding from the
Secondary Education department, College of Education and
Modern Language Studies.
Matthew Bello and Kelly Esslinger, presented a session entitled "Same Old Tune? Using music to keep our students!"
In this session, they presented their individual capstone research that focuses on discovering why some students give up and provides educators’ perspectives on engaging students with music to retain and enhance language programs.
The Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association
(PSMLA) is a non-profit professional organization dedicated to the teaching and learning of languages and cultures from kindergarten through university levels. Dr. Zimmerman served as co-chair for this year’s conference.
Photo above :
Back row : Matthew Kuna, Leola Shearer, Leslie Estrada, and Sarah Shiley
Front row : Mason Smith, Matthew Bello, Dr. Nancy
Zimmerman, Kelly Esslinger, Julia Snyder, Irving
Guzman, Catherine Espinal, and Jordan Thomas
MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES DEPARTMENT AT KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
Dr. Christine Coleman Núñez, Department Chair ( nunez@kutztown.edu
)
Ms. Merlene Oswald, Department Secretary ( moswald@kutztown.edu
)
Dr. Lynn M. Kutch, Editor-in-Chief, Layout Design
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Dr. Dawn Slack, Editorial Board
Dr. Nancy Zimmerman, Editorial Board